For all the Right Reasons
by PrehistoricCat
Summary: Abby makes a rash decision about how to deal with a creature
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Not mine, no copyright intended**

**A/N: Finally got my A/C mojo back! ... Please feed the plot bunnies with lovely comments, it helps them to multiply!**

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Abby always felt a strange mix of emotions when they went out to an anomaly. It was the unknown that both thrilled her and scared her at the same time. The thrill of seeing these amazing creatures in action never lessened; in fact the more she saw, the more she wanted to see, but the fear also increased. She had lost two colleagues already, witnessed the deaths of other people and almost become a victim herself. There were many who probably would have left the job by now, but Abby couldn't picture herself doing anything other than this.

She took a moment to compose herself, using a yoga technique to focus her mind and body for the task ahead. Sarah was nervously chewing her bottom lip in the seat next to her and in the two front seats Connor was navigating whilst Danny drove. Becker was on the radio, telling them to hurry up – the anomaly was close to a residential area, and an eye witness had claimed they had seen "one of them dinosaur things from Jurassic Park." Abby raised a tiny smile as she saw Connor's face twitch. He hated how most people's knowledge of dinosaurs stemmed from a fictional movie that wasn't, in his opinion, that accurate.

"What have we got?" Danny said as he got out of the 4x4 and walked towards Becker. The others followed close behind.

"The eye witness described it as being like a T-Rex, only a lot smaller." Becker said. "I've got a couple of my men trying to track it now."

"What sort of size are we talking about?" Abby said.

"He said it was probably about 7 feet tall."

"OK, I think we're going to need more than just the darts." Abby said, heading back towards the 4x4 and indicating for Sarah to help her.

"Could be a juvenile T-Rex." Connor said. "Or maybe it's a Raptorex, difficult to say without seeing it. Either way, we could be in trouble. Both are serious carnivores."

Abby was handing out large tranquiliser guns to the team, but Becker refused his. "I prefer to stick to my own weapon, thanks." he said, patting his rifle.

"Whatever." Abby said in disgust. She turned to Danny, who was loading bullets into his pistol. Abby stared at him.

"I know what you're thinking, Abby, but we should all carry proper firearms as well as the tranquilisers. You heard what Connor said, we could be looking at a killer here. I'm not taking any chances." Danny said to her.

Abby sighed. It was times like this she really missed Cutter. He felt the same as her; the creatures shouldn't be harmed. Connor was the only one on the team who sympathised with her now, but at the same time he also sided with Becker and Danny if things got a bit tough. She smiled as Connor took the final tranquiliser gun from her, remembering a certain incident in a shopping mall not so long ago. He'd had a few lessons from Becker since then, and his aim had improved greatly. He pushed it into his belt alongside the small handgun he was now allowed to carry.

"Ok, we split up – we have to find this thing before it makes a meal out of someone." Danny said. "Connor, Abby ... you two go with Becker in that direction. Sarah and I will go with the rest of the Special Forces guys over there. Stay in radio contact at all times." He tapped the microphone that was attached to the side of his face.

Despite her many clashes of opinion with Becker, Abby had to admit he was damn good at his job. Nothing got past his keen eyes and he often heard things no-one else had. He had gone on slightly ahead, leaving Connor and Abby feeling almost surplus to requirements. Connor was twirling his handgun around in his fingers and whistling the theme music to "The good, the bad and the ugly." Abby nudged him and told him to be quiet. He pouted at her like a naughty schoolboy, then grinned. "Lighten up, Abby! This is pretty cool." he said.

"You can't just mess about with those things, Connor. If that accidentally goes off, it won't be like when you shot me with the tranquiliser dart you know. That has real bullets that kill." Abby said. "If you want to play cowboys, do it with the tranquiliser gun, not that one."

Connor was about to respond, when they both realised Becker had stopped and was motioning for them to be quiet and stand back. There was a rustling in the trees and Becker pushed himself back against a tree. Moments later, a creature crashed through between the trees in front of them. Abby heard Connor gasp and she turned to look at him. His mouth was open and his eyes wide in awe.

"What is it?" Abby whispered.

"Raptorex." he replied. "Early Cretaceous. You can see why that guy thought it might be a T-Rex, but these existed thousands of years before the T-Rex."

Abby nodded. It always amazed her how Connor could pluck a fact out of the air like that, especially when their lives could potentially be in danger. "We have to try and lure it back towards the anomaly." She said, motioning to Becker.

"I've radioed for back up." He said. "Danny and the others are on the way. No heroics!"

The three watched the Raptorex in silence, all trying to hold their breaths so the creature wouldn't hear them. It stood and seemed to be sniffing the air, then turned and began to head towards the nearby housing estate. "We have to stop it!" Connor said.

Becker raised his rifle, but Abby grabbed it and forced him to put it down. "How do you propose we stop it then, Abigail!" Becker hissed at her. "If that thing gets into the street..."

"We get it to chase us." Abby said.

"Abby! Are you mad! Do you know how fast that thing can run?" Connor said. Abby was already moving from the safety of her hiding place into the open, and directly into the eyeline of the creature. Connor and Becker exchanged glances of fear, and Connor moved to try and drag Abby back.

"It may be fast, Connor. But it's got to negotiate the trees. It'll be slowed down considerably, whilst I can dodge in and out." She said. Before either Connor or Becker could stop her, Abby was waving at the creature to get its attention and then running through the trees towards the anomaly.

The Raptorex started after her, and as Abby had predicted, it was slowed down as it tried to weave its large body and long tail through the trees. Becker gave chase, his rifle raised, closely followed by Connor. He hardly dare look, and he prayed Abby wouldn't stumble over.

As Abby reached the clearing where the anomaly was, she could see Danny and Sarah. "What the hell are you doing?" Danny yelled, realising that she was being chased.

"I have to get it to follow me through the anomaly!" She yelled back. "It's the only way."

The creature was almost upon her, and she heard the unmistakeable sounds of rifles being cocked. "Tell your men to back off, Becker! We do this my way!"

"No!" Becker called back. "It's my job to protect you."

"And it's my job to make sure these creatures get back home unharmed." She snapped back. She moved towards the anomaly and stumbled slightly on a rock. The next few seconds happened so fast it was difficult to determine exactly what happened. The creature had made a lunge towards Abby and three gunshots rang out in rapid succession. Then there was silence as the creature slumped to the ground.

Everyone stood, just staring at each other, completely stunned. Abby was the first to move. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and she felt a sudden surge of anger. She rushed at Becker, slamming her fists against his chest. "I told you to back off!" she yelled. "I had it under control. It was following me through the anomaly! But you had to go and shoot it!"

"It wasn't me." Becker said, grabbing her wrists and looking her straight in the eyes. "It wasn't me."

"Then who?" Abby spun around, about to launch an angry attack at Danny, when she saw who had shot the creature. His arms were still outstretched; gun still pointing straight ahead. His entire body was shaking and tears streaming down his face.

"Connor!" Abby shouted. "You!... it was you!" Connor just nodded, frozen to the spot. "You idiot!" she spat, shoving him. Tears of anger stung her eyes – of all the people, Connor was the last one she expected to go against her.

"It was going to..." Connor managed to say before Abby shoved him again.

"I can't believe you did that, Connor! Everything Cutter ever stood for obviously means nothing to you." Abby hissed. She saw Connor's face crumple, and she knew her words had hurt him more than anything physical she could inflict on him. She felt betrayed in the worst possible way; Connor hadn't trusted her instinct, and that hurt. She turned and stomped off towards the waiting vehicles, shaking her head and trying to fight against the tears she could feel threatening to fall any moment.

"I'll go after her." Sarah said. Danny nodded and Sarah ran to catch Abby up.

"We should get this back to the ARC." Danny said to the gathered Special Forces men. "Can I leave that with you?" The men nodded and sprang into action. Then Danny turned to Connor, who was still shaking. He placed his hand on his shoulder. "If it's any consolation, my finger was on my trigger too. You beat me to it by a millisecond."

"Mine too." Becker said. "We were all thinking exactly the same, Connor."

"But it was me that killed it, wasn't it?" Connor said through his tears. "She'll never forgive me."

"You did it for the right reasons, Connor. When she calms down, she'll realise that too." Danny said.

Connor shook his head. He wished Danny was right, but he knew Abby wouldn't see it like that. She was always hard on him over even the slightest things; this was going to take a lot to put right. He followed Danny back to the 4x4 and silently slipped into his seat at the front. As Danny drove off, Connor glanced behind and tried to catch Abby's eye, needing to know that she was OK. She was sat with her arms folded and her eyes closed, leaning back.

"I think we should take Abby straight home." Sarah said. "She's had quite a shock."

"I'm fine." Abby said. "I just want to go back to the ARC and make sure that poor creature is dealt with properly and not just dumped in one of the holding pens."

"That 'poor creature' was about to rip your body to shreds, Abby!" Connor snapped.

"It was following me through the anomaly, Connor. Once it was home, it would have been calmer."

"You don't know that!" Connor said.

"And you don't know that it was going to kill me either. We'll never know, thanks to you. You're just as bad as that meathead Becker!"

Danny slammed on the brakes and the vehicle screeched to a halt. "That's enough! Not one more word about this. What's done is done and we can't change it. Now either you two stop arguing, or you can both get out and walk."

"Sorry, Danny." Connor muttered.

"Yeah, sorry Danny." Abby said. She sighed and stared out of the side window.

Danny started the 4x4 up again, and turned on the radio to try and lighten the mood. He almost wished Becker was with them, at least he could start a conversation about football or something. Sarah must have read his mind because she began talking about some police drama she'd seen and wanted to know if Danny thought it was an accurate portrayal of life in the British police force. Abby and Connor remained silent for the remainder of the journey, lost in their own thoughts.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally pulled up at the ARC and began to unload the equipment. Once or twice, Connor raised a nervous smile as he passed Abby, hoping she'd say something – but she ignored him; concentrating on getting her things from the boot ready to take back to the weapons store. When everything was unloaded, Danny turned to Abby and Connor. "I'm going to have to give Lester a full account of what happened today, and justify why we have a dead dinosaur on our hands." Abby glared at Connor. "I need both of you to sit down and give serious thought to what you did and the reasons behind it. Might do you good to analyse your behaviour. I want a written report first thing tomorrow morning so I have time to go over it before my meeting with Lester." He walked away, leaving the pair of them standing looking at each other awkwardly.

-o-


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Not mine, no copyright intended**

**A/N: Hankies at the ready ;) Hope you enjoy. Please feed the plot bunnies with reviews!**

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_Abby found herself staring into the face of a Raptorex, drool was hanging from its lip and the stench of rotten meat almost made her vomit. It snorted and opened its powerful jaws, edging closer to her as she tried to back away towards the anomaly. Up close, its razor sharp teeth were like nothing she'd ever seen before. As she stepped back; hoping to lure the creature closer to the anomaly, she lost her footing on a rock and stumbled. Her throat tightened and she couldn't breathe; she knew this was it. This was how she was going to die. As it lunged towards her, she let out a scream of sheer terror that came from the pit of her stomach..._

She sat up in bed, sweat pouring down her face and neck. She was breathing hard and it took a moment to realise where she actually was. It was just a nightmare and she was safely home in bed. As she tried to compose herself, there was a quiet knock at her door. "Abs?" It was Connor.

"I'm fine." She replied.

He opened the door and poked his head around. "I heard you scream, I thought you..."

"I said I'm fine, Connor!" she snapped, then she sighed. "Sorry. Just a bad dream, that's all. Did I wake you?"

"Nah. I was still awake. Been trying to write my report for Danny." He came into the room properly, and perched himself on the end of the bed.

"Really? How long does it take to write 'I shot the creature despite the fact Abby had the situation under control.' then?" she said sarcastically.

Connor stood up. "You know what? I'm fed up of this! I came down here because I was concerned about you after today and this is the gratitude I get. I saved your life today, and you haven't even had the decency to say 'thanks'." He headed for the door.

"My life didn't need saving, and I didn't ask for your help!"

"Well, next time, I'll just leave you to die then." he said, leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

The flat fell silent, except for two distinct sounds - the sound of two people sobbing into their pillows, and the sound of hearts breaking.

-o-

The morning routines happened in relative silence. Connor had noticed that Abby's eyes seemed red and puffy, but he put that down to her not sleeping well after her nightmare. Similarly, Abby had noted that Connor could barely keep his eyes open and that they seemed sore; she assumed it was because he'd been sat writing his report into the early hours. Neither passed comment. Abby fed the pets whilst Connor connected his laptop to the printer. She laughed when he pulled off the print out of his report.

"One page? You were up all night and that's all you wrote? Danny is going to kill you."

"Let me worry about that, eh?" Connor said. "I've said what I needed to say." He put the piece of paper into a plastic wallet and put it into his bag. Abby made a show of getting her report from her room, the wallet contained at least 4 sheets of paper. Connor shook his head, then started to worry – what if he hadn't done enough? He'd really struggled to write his piece and had rewritten it several times. In the end, he'd just decided to say exactly what he felt. He knew Danny would understand.

"Abby?" he said, as they got into the car to go to the ARC. "When this is over, after Danny's given his report to Lester, and we've had our lecture on correct procedure... can we put all this behind us? I hate arguing, especially with you."

"I don't know, Connor." Abby said quietly. "I thought you trusted in me, believed in the same things I did – the same things Cutter did."

"I do, you know I do!" he said. "But sometimes there are..." he stopped.

"What?" Abby said.

"Nothing. Doesn't matter. Your mind is already made up." Connor sniffed. Abby leaned forward and turned the stereo on, setting the volume loud. Connor knew that meant the end of any discussion for the rest of the journey, and he pulled out his magazine from his bag. He couldn't read though; his eyes were still stinging with tears, and if he hadn't been so wrapped up in his own feelings he would have noticed Abby pause at a junction a moment longer than usual to blink away her own tears.

-o-

Abby had been called into Danny's office about an hour after she'd given him her report. It wasn't often than Danny felt the need to use the private office he'd been assigned when he started his job at the ARC – he preferred to be out in the main hub where all the activity was. However, he needed to go through yesterday's events with a clear head.

As he suspected it would be, Abby's report was very thorough. Nothing was missed out as far as he could tell. "I wish I knew whether I should be reprimanding you for being so reckless and endangering your life, or commending you for your bravery in luring the creature away from the housing estate." he sighed. "There's no precedence for what we do here; I guess we're all learning as we go along."

"What do you think Lester will do?" Abby said.

"No idea. If someone had been injured, I think he'd want procedures reviewed, but as..."

"Oh, I see! It was only a creature that got killed so it doesn't matter. We can just sweep it under the carpet and forget about it." Abby said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I didn't say that, Abby." Danny said.

"You didn't need to." She stood up. "Can I go?"

Danny nodded. As she left, he picked up the single sheet of paper that Connor had handed in. It had made him smile at first. It was typical of him to turn in the minimum amount; Connor was practical, he needed to be doing and making, not sitting down writing about it. Then Danny read it and his heart ached for the young man. Connor had said so much in so few words.

He picked up the phone and asked Connor to come and see him, and moments later, he appeared in the doorway looking incredibly nervous. Danny told him to come in and sit down.

"I'm in trouble aren't I?" Connor said, his head down.

"As I said yesterday, Connor, I was about to do exactly what you did and so was Becker." Danny began, clearing his throat. "The official ARC policy is that killing a creature is a last resort." Connor nodded. "I believe it was the last resort yesterday. We all thought Abby was about to be killed. I doubt Lester will take this any further."

"Thanks." Connor said. He stood up to leave, but Danny motioned for him to sit down again. Connor looked worried.

"I read your report. It was obviously written from the heart." Danny said softly.

"Yeah, it was." Connor blushed. He thought that maybe he'd been a bit too honest about certain things.

"Does she know how you feel?"

Connor looked down at his feet. "Sort of. Maybe. I don't know." He shifted uneasily in his seat, deciding he had definitely been too open.

"Have you ever told her?" Danny said.

"Once."

"And what happened?"

Connor sighed and looked at Danny. "I denied saying it."

Danny rolled his eyes, but he wasn't surprised in the least. He hadn't known the pair of them for long, but it didn't take a genius to work out why they weren't together. "Connor, you're an idiot!" he said, laughing.

"Thanks." Connor said. "I knew that already." he smiled.

"Get out!" Danny said, giving Connor a friendly shove. He watched him leave then prepared himself for his meeting with Lester. Connor's report was still on the desk in front of him and an idea struck him. It was highly unprofessional, but someone needed to give these two a push in the right direction and this might just work. He folded Connor's report in half and walked towards Lester's office. As he passed the lab, he stuck his head around the door to make sure Abby was alone.

"Abby, a little piece of advice for you, as a friend." he said. Abby looked puzzled as Danny handed her the folded piece of paper. "The next time you start yelling at Connor and giving him a hard time about not trusting your instinct or going against Cutter's ideals... you might want to read this." He walked away; hoping he hadn't just made a huge mistake.

-o-

Abby sat down and unfolded the paper Danny had given her. At first she wasn't sure what it was, but realised after the first line that it was Connor's report. Why had Danny given it to her? The first paragraph was pretty much a factual account, up to the point where Connor and Becker had chased after her.

Then she read on, and realised why Danny had told her to read it...

"_I sometimes think Abby forgets she's not 15 anymore, and that there are people around her now that actually genuinely care about what happens to her. For most of her teenage years, the people who should have been protecting her and looking after were the ones hurting her. I suppose she's wary of accepting help or friendship or love because she's used to it coming with something bad attached._

_Abby can sometimes seem a bit selfish, or come across that she thinks her way is the only way. I don't think she means to, she's just used to having to deal with things herself._

_I understand why she tried to lure the creature back to the anomaly; she was thinking about the safety of the residents nearby rather than her own. She lives by her own strict values; which I admire of course, but she doesn't seem to understand there are other things to consider too – like how someone else would feel if something happened to her. She doesn't consider other people's feelings because she's never had to before."_

Abby stared at the words, tears streaming down her cheeks. Connor was right; she didn't know how to handle someone being kind to her, or wanting to take care of her. She had spent most of her life having to look out for number one, and no-one had really cared what she did. She could have died and there wouldn't have been anyone that noticed, except maybe Jack – but that was because she looked after him and tried to keep him out of trouble. And it was also true that she didn't think about other's feelings at times. Seeing it all written down in black and white made it all make sense. Swallowing down the lump in her throat, she read the final paragraph...

"_Danny asked me to explain why I did what I did today. It's simple. I did it because I couldn't imagine life without Abby in it. I did it because I love her."_

Abby was on her feet in seconds. She had to find Connor.

-o-

Connor was in his usual spot; soldering iron in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. He was trying to do some repairs to one of the handheld detectors, and using the opportunity to see if he could reduce the size down. Ideally, he wanted them to be wrist watch sized so that they could be worn and have both hands free. He could feel someone watching him, but he ignored it for a while. When the feeling didn't go away he glanced around him – Abby was sat over by the ADD, her elbow resting on the desk. She smiled as he caught her eye. That had to be a good sign didn't it?

"Has Danny come out of the office yet?" Connor said, keen to make conversation.

"No. But I can't hear shouting, so it must be going OK." she replied. There was an awkward pause then Abby stood up, pulled her chair over to where Connor was working and sat down. "Conn... I think I owe you an apology for yesterday. I over reacted, you were just looking out for me, and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Abs." he said, relieved that he was forgiven. "I just saw something happening and I did what I thought was..."

"I read your report." Abby interrupted. "I know why you killed that creature."

Connor blushed. He swallowed nervously. "Danny shouldn't have shown it you. That was personal."

"Maybe, but I'm glad he did." She reached over and took the soldering iron from him, carefully placing it on the desk. She took his hand and squeezed it. "You know me better than I know myself."

Connor looked her in the eyes, trying to read what was going on in her mind. He was waiting for the "I'm flattered, but..." line. His throat was getting tighter by the second and he knew he wouldn't be able to breathe let alone speak if she kept hold of his hand like she was for much longer.

Abby cleared her throat and then leaned forward, kissing Connor softly on the lips. She pulled back slightly and looked at him, waiting for a reaction. She could see he was confused, and that hurt her. It was her fault that he didn't know how to react to her anymore and she had to work at putting that right. "That was for saving my life yesterday, thank you." she whispered finally.

"You're welcome." Connor managed to squeak out.

"And this is because of that last line in your report." She held his face in both her hands and pulled him to her, pushing her lips against his more firmly this time. She felt Connor relax as he rested his hands on her waist, so she shifted to wrap her arms around him. She was willing him to return her kiss; to finally show her what he felt for her – she needed to know that the words he had written actually meant something, otherwise she may as well continue her argument that shooting the Raptorex was the wrong thing to do.

She moved to break off her embrace and stopped kissing him. Maybe she'd got this all wrong and shouldn't have assumed Connor would just fall into her arms after everything that had been said? As she began to put a distance between them, Connor pulled her back towards him and crushed her lips beneath his, letting out a happy sigh. She responded with a sigh of her own and returned his kiss, feeling months of tension suddenly disappear. She realised now why she was always so hard on Connor – she had wanted this but was scared he would be like every other person who had claimed to love her, so she pushed him away.

Their union was broken by the sound of an embarrassed cough. It was Danny. Both looked at him sheepishly, red faced. "I just came to tell you that Lester is satisfied with the way things were handled yesterday as long as lessons were learnt." Danny said.

"Thanks." Abby said. "Yeah, lessons were learnt I think." She smiled, reaching for Connor's hand.

"Good." Danny replied and turned to walk away. He stopped and turned back to face them, a huge grin on his face. "Oh, and Lester said I had to tell you two to kiss and make up. I can see you've already done that so... I guess you'd better carry on." He walked away, glancing back as he reached the door to his office. Their lips were locked together again. He smiled to himself and shook his head; realising that they wouldn't get much work done now. He should be pulling rank and reminding them of workplace etiquette, but all things considered he'd turn a blind eye today.


End file.
